Uddhav Thackeray Takes a Giant Leap To Find New Political Allies, And The Chief Minister's Chair

As an artist-turned-politician, Uddhav Thackeray has softened the Shiv Sena’s belligerent brand of politics. But his lack of administrative experience, and the pulls and pressures of an unlikely alliance, will test his limits as an artful leader

- Dnyanesh Jathar

It was two decades ago that Uddhav Thacker-ay learnt an important lesson in politics. In 1999, the Shiv Sena reluctantly agreed to advance the assembly elections in Maha-rashtra to coincide with the Lok Sabha polls. BJP leader Pramod Mahajan had convinced Uddhav’s father, Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray, that there was a wave in favour of prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that would help the ruling National Democratic Alliance win simultaneous polls.

Most Sena leaders, Uddhav included, were not in favour of pulling the plug on the first Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, which still had eight more months left. And the poll results bore out their fears. The NDA won the Lok Sabha elections, but the Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra could win only 125 of 288 assembly seats—13 short of its tally from 1995.

The alliance needed 20 more legislators to return to power. Chances of it forming the government, however, were still good; the opposition Congress had split before the polls, with the breakaway Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar contesting elections independently. But, when governor P.C. Alexander invited the saffron alliance to form the government, BJP leader Gopinath Munde refused to give a letter of support to the Sena.

Munde had been deputy chief minister in the Sena-BJP government, and he was not keen on holding the post again. He wanted rotational chief ministership, with the BJP getting the first chance. The Sena, he argued, had had two chief ministers already—Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane.

An angry Shiv Sena, which had 13 more legislators than the BJP, refused. As parleys between the two partners dragged on for days, the

sharp-witted Sharad Pawar persuaded all independent MLAs to support his efforts to form a Congress-NCP government. Pawar’s success denied the Sena its second term in power.